I was initially intrigued by the description of How to Solve Your Own Murder. It seemed like an interesting premise -- and something that has not been overdone. I loved the small town setting, which was juxtaposed with Frances' wealth and estate. Kristen did an exceptional job of developing the characters over the course of Frances' life (and beyond). When the big "ah-ha" moment came, it truly seemed to fit after everything we learned. Overall, a way to cap off my 2023 ARCs!

Loved it! Great cozy murder mystery with a few particularly fun elements: murder victim Frances's attempts to pre-solve her own anticipated murder, and the story-within-the-story that comes from Frances's diary.

Back in 1965, Frances is at a fair with her two friends, Emily and Rose, when she receives a cryptic fortune predicting her demise. As some early elements of the prophecy seem to come true, Frances becomes obsessed with her future murder--even more so once Emily disappears. For several decades, she collects "evidence" she believes might either lead her to avoiding her murder, or on the chance she cannot, help to uncover her killer.

In her will, she establishes a contest so that either her (creepy) step-nephew Saxon or great-niece Annie will receive her vast fortune if they can solve her murder within a week. Annie is a hopeful mystery novel writer, so she tentatively joins forces with a local detective from Frances's small English village to see if she can uncover the circumstances that led to her great-aunt's murder before time runs out.

I was hooked almost from page 1, and at about midnight, I had to force myself to put the book down since I knew that if I let myself, I wouldn't want to stop reading until the final pages (likely in the very wee hours of the morning). There are really two mysteries to solve here: what happened to Emily back in 1965, and how and why it relates to Frances's death today. Both are compelling mysteries to be solved, and you will root for Annie to figure them both out.

Not sure if this will be the start of other mysteries featuring Annie and her potential love interest, Detective Crane, but I did like their pairing and would read another book with them.

3.5 stars

I enjoyed the premise and multiple POV's: Frances's journal from the 1960s and her great-niece Annie in the present. The writing style easily pulls the reader in. The pacing is a bit slow at the beginning, but it picks up as the book goes on. There were a few characters who seemed unnecessary, which made it hard to track things on occasion. There were numerous red herrings, making the ending a bit of a surprise, which is always appreciated!

Thanks Netgalley and thanks Kristen Perrin!

This was such a fun read. I love a good whodunnit under the right circumstances.
The dual timelines were great, the ending wasn't obvious, and everything wrapped up well.

How to Solve Your Own Murder was a five star read from the very beginning! I can’t say enough good things about this book. Not only was it a fantastic murder mystery with classic Clue vibes, but it also managed to feel suspenseful and cozy at the same time.

Annie, our main character, finds herself in a race against the clock to solve her superstitious Great Aunt Frances’ murder. Along the way, she runs into fantastically written characters, stumbles into danger, and uncovers a story that leaves the reader invested chapter after chapter.

The story was laid out very well. It is told between alternating chapters of Annie’s investigation and Frances’ diary entries from the 1960s. The pacing is fantastic. And truths are revealed in a way that gives the reader a good balance of being unsure who the killer is, but also feeling like they are keeping up with the main character.

I loved this book. It was so much fun! The characters were entertaining, the setting came to life in my mind easily, and I felt invested in the story. I can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy of this book!

*Huge thanks to Netgalley, Penguin Group Dutton, and Kristen Perrin for granting me access to the advanced copy of this book in e-book format*

Thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for inviting me to read this through NetGalley.

Besides the fact that I knew there would potentially be a murder, I went into this book blind. I was not disappointed at all! It felt like Nancy Drew but grown up. It's set in a small town but there's a large cast of suspects - I mean characters. There are twists and turns around every corner and it really has you second-guessing who you think the murderer is. I also enjoyed the flashbacks and getting to feel like you knew Frances.

I don't want to give any spoilers for this book so you can go into it blind like I did. Overall, I had a really fun time with this book. It was everything I expected it to be and hope to see Annie solve more mysteries in the future!

I found this book un-putdownable. It reminded me of an Agatha Christie novel. the story moves between past and present and captures the reader's imagination as they try to solve the murder. Highly recommend

In 1965 a prediction from a fortune teller changes Frances Adam’s life forever. 60 years later her great-niece will be embroiled in the mystery revolving around Frances’s death.
In a race against the other beneficiaries of Frances’s will, Annie must use all her wits to crack the case.
Using Frances’s journal the story alternates between the past and the present, from one mystery, to another.
I had a hard time with this book. I wanted to love it but the action sequences kept pulling me out of the story. I feel like maybe it just needs another strong edit. To have one character fooling around laughing with her boyfriend and then on the next line they are giving serious dialogue, it just felt like the timing was off. There was a lot of telling, not showing. I’ll give this 2.75 stars, round up to 3.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

A perfectly fine book, but it just didn't work for me and I can't put my finger on why. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity.

I really enjoyed this classic-styled mystery, full of family and village secrets! The reveal was very well done, surprising without seeming to come from nowhere.

Frances received a fortune that she was going to be murdered, but the fortune teller had no important details, such as who? When? How? Why? So Frances' life revolves around stopping this event. It's a cozy story with shades of Agatha Christie, an old fashioned style of mystery, that is fun to read. Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.

4/5 stars.

I greatly enjoyed this book. The characters were lovable and I wasn’t so anxious that I could still sleep at night.
It is a nice blend between traditional and cozy mystery. I imagine a tipsy agatha christie would have loved this. It’s a little more frothy and sugary while still feeling like an authentic and intelligent mystery.

There is only one reason this book is a 4 instead of 5 stars. I feel that there could have been a slightly stronger editorial hand. Especially in the middle, there were a few moments where I struggled to stay engaged. It felt that our girl was snuggled up reading the diary while all the other characters were taking action. I think with a little more editing, the book could have been condensed a bit more and been a 5/5 for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the ARC!

Frances is given a fortune that one day she will be murdered. She loves her whole life keeping tabs on others in order to avoid her fortune. Then, one day her future comes true. Her great niece feels the clues left by the aunt to solve her murder.

This book switches from Frances’ journal back in the 1960s to present day with Annie putting the clues together. I had no clue who it was until it was laid out. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. Loved it!

Thank you to Kristen Perrin, Penguin Random House and NetGalley for this ARC.

I love a good murder mystery and this book definitely checked the box. In the 1960s, Frances received an awful fortune from a fortune teller predicting her murder. She spends the rest of her life looking for clues as to who will betray her and who will be the reason for her demise. Switching to present day, Annie, who is Frances' great niece, has been asked to travel to Frances' estate for a meeting about her will. When the group arrives, they find Frances has been murdered. This plunges Annie into a real life murder mystery. Who did this to her Great Aunt? And what did it have to do with Frances' life in the 60s?

The first half of this book was a bit slow moving with many characters introduced but the second half really picked up steam.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

How to Solve Your Own Murder had a really fun premise, but it was hard for me to get into. I found the characters names, timeline and plot to be hard to follow, which usually isn't the case for me. I did however love the old timey feel and coziness and the murder mystery and the dual timeline.

We start the book out in the 1960's, where Frances goes to a fair where a fortune teller tells her that she will be murdered. Throughout her life, Frances was convinced the fortune teller is correct and keeps track of everyone and potential evidence ! Nobody believed that her fortune would come true, until she was found dead under mysterious circumstances.

Present day, Frances great niece, Annie, ends up trying to solve the case. And if she does, she could inherit Frances' massive fortune!

3.75 stars

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

In the small town of Castle Knoll, a fortune teller gives a grim peek into Frances Adams’ life – including an untimely death. She takes this prophecy very seriously and spends the rest of her life trying to track down her eventual killer.

The book is told in two voices, with Frances’s journal in the 60’s, and her great-niece, Annie, in the current time. Annie considers herself somewhat of a sleuth and is excited to engage in a contest that Frances sets up in her will. The other potential heir, Saxon, and Annie are given seven days to solve Frances’s murder with the winner getting the entire estate.

I liked the premise of the book, and the storytelling is good. It doesn’t have a tense feel, which I like from a who-done-it novel. It also suffers from way too many characters. There are so many past and present characters that it is really hard to keep track. I’m glad I read it on my Kindle so I could enter a name and figure out who this or that person was. While I enjoyed the book, the proliferation of characters was the problem for me because it could have been any of two dozen characters.

For me, most of the fun of reading a crime thriller is trying to guess who did it. In this book, there were way too many options and all of them seemed plausible. While I didn’t guess the ending, I’m not sure anyone could. That took a lot of the fun out of the book for me. It was a good book, but I didn’t love it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Dutton for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review.

This was a weird read for me. The first 50(ish)% of the book was a little slow and took me a decent bit of time to get through. Alas, I persevered and FLEW through the last half in less than a day. The author left just enough that you could solve along but not obvious enough that you lost interest. I thought the whodunit was very well executed and the reveal at the end an excellent finish. I do wish Annie and Crane got together or we had that closure at the end. I was really rooting for them!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin.

This was delightful, quirky, smart, and charming. A great cast of characters and a cozy mystery without being too cozy. Another good one to add to the growing number of fun and off-beat mysteries.

Great granddaughter is called to the estate of her great grandmother only to find she's been murdered. She has a week to solve the murder to inherit the estate. Book starts off extremely slowly but picks up once the investigation begins.

This was a decent murder mystery in British style (though you could occasionally tell that the author isn't British, some of the dialogue felt off). I did find it to be a bit slow in sections, and the characters slightly underdeveloped, but the plot was intriguing and the premise paid off with the big reveal at the end. I'd recommend this to cozy mystery fans!